Today was supposed to be my day off. I did the usual chores around the house, went for a run and had plans to spend the afternoon and evening at my parents' house.

As I walked in the door and hung my keys on the key rack, my cell phone rang...and it was the dreaded ringtone of my office. I couldn't help but think, What now?

When I heard my assistant editor's voice, I knew something had happened. That's when he broke the news to me about longtime Phillies broadcaster Harry Kalas.

I was beyond shocked. Even though he hadn't looked well in quite some time, I didn't think his health was that poor.

For the next 30 minutes, I couldn't bring myself to take my coat off or sit down. I told my father and tried to delicately explain it to my 6-year-old nephew, already a die-hard Phillies and Harry Kalas fan. I called my husband, who despite first being a Yankees fan and then a Phillies fans, almost drove off the road when I gave him the news. Then I answered my other line when my brother-in-law called to talk about it.

My sister, despite caring for her 16-month-old who has a double ear infection, found herself grieving.

"What I loved about him was how excited he got when the Phillies did something good," she said. "I don't want a Phillies announcer to sound happy when Ryan Zimmerman hits a home run. If you want to hear someone be neutral, then turn on ESPN."

Harry was always a professional on the air. He never talked down to the fans or insulted anyone. The harshest thing I ever heard him say was, "Right down the middle for a ball." So many times I watched him make his way through the clubhouse with a smile plastered across his face. There wasn't a time when the players didn't acknowledge him.

"He loved the players," Phillies pregame and postgame radio host Jim Jackson told me. "With a lot of broadcasters, there's a jealousy there with the players. But he respected them and they respected him back."

Center fielder Shane Victorino showed that today. After he homered and stepped on the plate, he pointed to the broadcast booth where Harry would have been sitting.

General manager Ruben Amaro Jr. got to experience Harry on several levels. As a kid, he grew up listening to him. As a young man, he played for the Phillies while Harry broadcasted those game (Harry even called his first home run). In more recent years, Ruben had worked with Harry.

"Throughout the Delaware Valley and clearly all of baseball, Harry is an icon," Amaro said during the Phillies' television broadcast with Sarge and Tom McCarthy. "He loved the players. He loved the people who worked for the Phillies."

Although the players did not talk before today's game, Chase Utley did give a recorded, on-camera statement about Harry.

"When I think of the Phillies, I think of Harry Kalas," he said. "He changed so many lives with the way he announced a game. He definitely was a special person."

John Kruk, currently an analyst on ESPN's Baseball Tonight, played on the 1993 team that won the NLCS but lost to the Toronto Blue Jays in the World Series. He was emotional when talking about Harry the K.

"It's an awful day for the Phillies," Kruk said.

Surely, it won't get much easier when the club returns home this weekend.